June 23, 2024 | #582 | read on the web | Free Version

Welcome to Sunday Brain Food, a weekly newsletter full of timeless ideas and actionable insights you can use in life and work.

FS

"The Blank Sheet Method transforms passive reading into active learning. It forces you to engage deeply with the material, visualize your learning, and reinforce what you already know, allowing you to internalize content more effectively."

— The Blank Sheet Method

Insights

“Perfection is impossible. In the 1526 singles matches I played in my career, I won almost 80% of those matches. Now, I have a question for you.

What percentage of points do you think I won in those matches? Only 54%.

In other words, even top-ranked tennis players win barely more than half of the points they play. When you lose every second point on average, you learn not to dwell on every shot.

You teach yourself to think, okay, I double-faulted ... it's only a point. Okay, I came to the net, then I got passed again; it's only a point. Even a great shot, an overhead backhand smash that ends up on ESPN's top 10 playlist. That, too, is just a point.

And here's why I'm telling you this. When you're playing a point, it has to be the most important thing in the world, and it is. But when it's behind you, It's behind you. This mindset is really crucial because it frees you to fully commit to the next point and the next point after that, with intensity, clarity, and focus.

You want to become a master at overcoming hard moments. That is, to me, the sign of a champion. The best in the world are not the best because they win every point. It's because they lose again and again and have learned how to deal with it. You accept it. Cry it out if you need to and force a smile.”

— Roger Federer

**

“People are always trying to add more stuff to life. Reduce it to simpler, pure moments.”

— Jerry Seinfeld

***

“We must always remember that possessions have no inherent value. They become what we make them. If they increase our capacity to give, they become something good. If they increase our focus on ourselves and become standards by which we measure other people, they become something bad.”

— Kent Nerburn

Tiny Thoughts

“Life is simple but not easy. The problem is we want life to be easy, which makes it complicated.”

*

“A lot of mistakes come from copying people playing a different game than you.”

**

“Writing is often the process by which you realize you do not understand what you are talking about.”

Reading

The Charles F. Kettering biography by Thomas Boyd was full of surprising insights by a fascinating man I had never heard about. Kettering, a prolific inventor with over 300 patents, believed that progress comes from tinkering and overcoming failure.

“Every great improvement . . has come after repeated failures. . . . Virtually nothing comes out right the first time. Failures, repeated failures, are fingerposts on the road to achievement.”

— Members can see my highlights.

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Thanks for reading,

— Shane

P.S. The correct rolling direction for toilet paper.

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